Consent order/ ancilliary relief - differences?

My s2bx and I settled our finances when we seperated. I moved out of the marital home after he gave me a lump sum of money. I have asked him to enter into an agreement via a Consent Order, but he is refusing. My solicitor tends to be very rushed when I speak to her and I am getting no joy and further confused on which way to proceed.

I have been advised that if he refuses to enter into a consent order then I will have to file for ancilliary relief. My solicitor said that can cost from £3000 - £7000!!! I do not see the purpose in going down that route because my s2bx and split everything up. I just do not want him to have a future financial hold on me. The ex does not have a solicitor and does not seem to be taking this seriously.

My questions are: can I file for a consent order or ancilliary relief after we are divorced or do I have to file during it? Is going down the route of ancilliary relief the only way to get him to agree to a Clean Break?

Hi MsM. I thought consent orders were part of ancilory relief proceedures. The consent order can be floated at the 1st hearing and this can be turned into a FDR hearing if all is done and dusted. To prevent any further fincial call apon you, you will need a clean break settlement. Again this is part of ancilory relief.

I think your solicitor is talking out his bum hole. Perhaps he needs to re line is swiming pool. 3 - 7K is totaly out of wack. Most people pay 1 - 2K for this. But if your done and dusted you could do this yourself. Its £210 for the Form A submision. Now if you can persuade your ex to not bring any heavyweight solicitors and its just the 2 of you then this is all you will pay. Good luck. Chris

Hi ChrisM Thanks for your reply. I agree what you said about my solicitor.

I decided to call the s2bx and discuss things with him. We have agreed to apply for a clean break order, which I am going to do through divorce online. Surprisingly, he did not hang up on me like he normally does. He has also agreed to a divorce with consent based on a two year seperation. He wants out as much as I do.

My solicitor said she would charge £600 for the clean break! I feel like a lemon that is trying to be squeezed.

Hi MsM

Not sure if this helps or not

My divorce became absolute in 1998 and we did not go to court. We both had solicitors and assumed that was it all done and dusted. Neither of us had filed any form E's etc but I believe we did file in an affidavit? declaring assets/liabilities.

Then out of the blue in 2003, I got a solicitor letter from my ex stating that we needed to apply for a consent order. This scared the hell out of me cos I didnt know what it was or that we didnt have one.

I went back to my original solicitor and was told that somehow it was overlooked by them or his sols or both?

Anyway, we decided to get it done on the terms we had originally divorced on in 1998, it was written out and signed by both of us on a clean break basis I believe. I cant remember how much it cost but it was only a small amount for a bit of paperwork.

I had no idea we hadnt done this back in 1998, and since then my ex had bought a house with his NP and also received an inheritance!!
No wonder he suddenly seemed keen in 2003 to sort it out.

I still felt that it was only right to "seal the deal" as it were on the original terms in 1998 as we had both moved on a long way by then.

Best of luck